


A school into the woods

by Zelda_writes



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, cat shapeshifter Kuroo, dryad Daichi, dryad Hanamaki, dryad Hinata, dryad Kyoutani, dryad Matsukawa, fairy Kageyama, fairy Miya, fairy Nishinoya, fairy Tanaka, fairy Terushima, fairy Tsukishima, half-werewolf Iwaizumi, shapeshifter Suga, snake shapeshifter Daishou, swan maiden Yahaba, wizard Oikawa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-16 19:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 10,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16500977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelda_writes/pseuds/Zelda_writes
Summary: Hello everyone. My assigned creature for Hq!! Fantasy exchange 2018 is the wonderful nymph who inhabits the woods, the so called “dryad.” I obviously added a lot of other creatures: fairies, shapeshifters and wizards. You will find all my giftee’s fav ships: Kyouhaba, Daisuga, Kagehina, Terushou and Kageasu. However, I could not disregard my fav ships, which luckily my giftee seems to like as well: Iwaoi, Kurootsukki, Matsuhana.All right, let’s go down to business, folks. We are dealing with a mystery short story: will you be able to tell who’s the culprit? Enjoy your reading :)P.s.: the chapters from 1 to 4 are really short, but they become much longer starting from chapter 5 - Overwhelming.





	1. The welcoming speech

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ymanimon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ymanimon/gifts), [mitrrx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitrrx/gifts).



Yahaba prided himself on always paying attention to others, on always being polite. He felt awful as he noticed that his distraction was spotted by the student right in front of him. Even worse, the guy clearly was forced to give the welcoming speech, given his perpetual scowl, which, by the way, only deepened every time he glanced at Yahaba.

  
But Yahaba just couldn’t focus on words when a whirlwind of needles had been prickling underneath his skin for ages, when admiring the vines which decorated the main building of the school wasn’t going to slow down the fading sun. His head slumped down, he tried to slow his breaths.

   
A hand squeezed his shoulder, “Shige-chan?”  
“I-” the usual pain rattled him. All went black.  
“We’ve got you,” someone lifted him and water gave relief to his nocturnal feathers.


	2. Apologies

Admittedly, it was mainly Suga’s fault. He should have picked the signs of discomfort of his students. Even better, he should have listened to Daishou, at least this time, and let them rest at a local inn so that they could arrive with the sun high in the sky instead of low on the horizon. A bunch of young shapeshifters could not take such a risk, no matter how much trained they were. Moreover, the sinking feeling associated with Tanaka and Noya’s disappearance furtherly impaired the control over their powers and curses.

"I'm extremely sorry, Sugawara-san.” The headmaster of the “Creatures of the Forest Academy” bowed deeply.  
"Please, Sawamura-san, this is totally my fault.” Suga flailed his arms in an attempt to break the headmaster’s submissive pose. “  
Of course it isn’t. I should have escorted you to your rooms as soon as-”  
“As soon as we arrived?” Suga’s tone was so soft that Sawamura finally straightened his back. “I suppose we are teachers who aren’t happy to change accurately planned schedules, isn’t it?”  
“Strangely enough, I agree with my colleague, Sawamura-san,” Daishou snickered.  
The headmaster didn’t acknowledge Daishou’s remark and addressed Suga once more, “Then, as a sign of newborn friendship, please, call me Daichi.”  
Both Daichi and Suga’s cheeks grew warm “Of course, Daichi, but only if you call me Suga.”

“All right, you punctuality freaks wouldn’t want to be late to our rescheduled dinner, would you?” Daishou had the rare mercy to interrupt the awkward silence.  
“Don’t make me choke on your honey, Suga,” he added in a whisper into Suga’s ear.


	3. Friends will be friends

“Oh gods, stop worrying so much!”  
“We shouldn’t be here!”  
“We are only solving an issue, Shigeru.”  
“Without any authorization-”  
“It’s only a lake, relax!”

Unnoticed in the moonlit wood, a tendril flew towards Oikawa’s ankle, enveloped it and halted the guy.  
“The f-” A leaf covered his mouth.  
“Tooru!” Yahaba rushed forward with the last ounces of his strength.   
Before he could reach for the tentacles a stern voice approached them, “Was I in your position, I wouldn’t touch unknown plants.” The guy of the welcoming speech slowly retreated his vines.

Oikawa stood frozen and silent.  
“He’s fine. In five minutes he will be back to normal,” the dryad said.  
Yahaba studied his friend’s features, a tad bit more relaxed after the guy’s reassurance.  
He should have been pissed. Blocking a visiting student with paralyzing poison was stooping low. However, what would Yahaba have done if a visiting student had wandered in the forbidden hallways of his school?  
“You are not allowed here,” the nymph stated. No apologies, no remorse trickling through his words. 

Any trace of guilt evaporated from Yahaba’s mind. He circled the nymph, “Oh, really? And tell me, dryad-kun-”  
“Kyoutani.”  
“Ky-ou-ta-ni-kun, are you, by any chance, allowed to hurt your peers?”  
Not concealing his distaste, the creature narrowed his eyes, “Trespassing is a major violation.”

Dead leaves started to twirl around, moved by gusts of wind.   
“You see, the guy you hurt has always helped me.”  
And finally, Kyoutani got perplexed.  
“He spent a lot of nights sleeping under the stars not to leave me alone.”   
Oikawa pleaded with his eyes his friend but to no avail. Feathers sprouted from Yahaba’s body. His neck stretched and arched, his mouth and nose elongated and hardened in a beak. He retreated his webbed feet from the ground and, with the help of his wings, he attacked Kyoutani.

The dryad didn’t grow his bark in time to avoid the first wounds Yahaba inflicted him. But as seconds ticked by, Kyoutani almost completed his metamorphosis. This didn’t deter the other shapeshifter, who kept pecking and crying. Until a wooden fence emerged from the ground.

“Oh my, my,” the fence spoke into Yahaba’s face, “aren’t we lively, Swan-kun?” Pink flowers adorned a face sculpted in the wood.  
“Kentarou,” another person said, “you didn’t have to take us this literally when we said to stop any trespasser.”  
Yahaba’s rage deflated and he landed as gracefully as he could.  


The fence swiftly became a pink-haired man and sauntered to the other newcomer. “Matsun, pet our Kenta. He will heal himself quicker with a bit of affection.”  
Kyoutani abruptly shapeshifted. He glared first to his open wounds then to Yahaba, again to his wounds.  
“Here you are, kid. Apologize,” Matsun said, speaking to Kyoutani.  
“What?!”  
“Oh, Ken-chan, don’t force me to repeat the rules to you,” the other dryad racked his fingers through his flowers, “it makes me feel so old!”  


“N-no,” everyone looked at Oikawa, whose lips trembled, “n-need.”  
Matsun and the pink-haired creature stared at each other. “Awww, you made a new friend in spite of your terrible attitude, Ken-chan!” the latter said.  
Yahaba felt ashamed and exhausted. Two strangers were defending him and Tooru even though they made a huge mistake. He glanced at Oikawa, who succoured him even in that pitiful state.  
“M-my idea…” Oikawa stuttered, “he’s veeeery t-ti-tired.”  
“Hush, kid, don’t strain your jaw,” the pink haired dryad said.  
But Oikawa didn’t listen, “Pool…,” he drew a laboured breath in, “too small.”  
“Bullshit! You had a fucking proper pool indoors!” Kyoutani shouted. But his and any other rebut were cut off.  
“Shut it, Kentarou,” Matsun crouched down near Yahaba, “you travelled for days, isn’t it? I bet the biggest body of water they could provide was an inflatable pool…” he petted the swan’s head, “ah! The lake is so inviting when the moon shines brightly in the sky, isn’t it, Makki?”   
“Lovely indeed,” Makki replied, pleased. He examined Oikawa, “uhm, better I wake Teru, I don’t want to mess this up.”  
Oikawa paled. “Terushima sensei is the best healer you could ever meet,” the dryad quickly added with a big smile.  
Matsun kept caressing Yahaba to comfort him. “You need to rest, my boy,” he lifted him in his arms like a bride and started to walk down the path to the lake. He addressed Makki, “deal with the kids, will ya?”  
“‘Course!”


	4. Mocking spirit

“Can I call you Yamayama?”  
Yamaguchi scratched the back of his neck, “If you like it…”  
“Wouldn’t you get confused with your other Yama, Chibi-chan?” Tsukishima mocked.  
“Huh?”  
Kageyama scowled deeper than usual. “Pay him no mind,” he nuzzled Hinata’s red leaves and intertwined their hands.  
“I apologize, Yamaguchi-kun, since Kageyama heard two of your fellow fairies disappeared-”  
“Tanaka and Noya senpai didn’t disappear!”  
Tsukishima replied in a condescending tone, “Oh, right, Hinata, they sneaked out as they did every Saturday.”  
“It was Thursday the last time they were seen at their school’s campus,” Kageyama furrowed his brows.  
Tsukishima ignored his classmate. “Hence Kageyama-sama is worried and haven’t left Hinata-kun alone since then, not even for a minute.”  
Finally understanding Tsukishima’s mocking, Kageyama shook his head. “You’re so full of shit...”  


“If you want to get rid of them I suggest to visit the library,” Tsukishima said to Yamaguchi.  
Hinata started hopping. “Hey, I love the library!”  
“I meant, the study rooms, not the comics section.”  
“You’re no fun, Tsukki!”   
Kageyama snorted, aware of the internal storm which surged in Tsukishima everytime Hinata used that nickname. “A professional spoilsport,” he provided.  
“It’s fine, they are cute,” Yamaguchi smiled, pleased with the blush he put on Kageyama’s cheeks and with the grin splitting Hinata’s face. “But I will gladly stop by the library,” he winked to Tsukishima.

Yamaguchi liked Tsukishima. And, most of all, his best friend Kuroo had spent the last days cooped up in what seemed to be Tsukishima’s favourite place. Even though more than capable of acting sneaky when needed (true to his cat shapeshifter nature), Kuroo was miserably failing to hide his crush on the blonde fairy. Besides, salty by default but shy to the marrow when it came to love affairs, Tsukishima would take ages to ask Kuroo out. Yamaguchi was going to willingly offer his matchmaker assistance.


	5. Overwhelming

Entering Terushima’s office could overwhelm anyone who owned functioning senses. It was all too much for your nose, eyes and skin. Even before opening the door, all the scents produced by dried flowers, herbs and, gods, were those pelts?, well, all those odours will attack your nostrils leaving them numb but strangely satisfied, as if they had just extinguished their thirst to know all the fragrances in this world just thanks to one whiff got in that cluttered room. Then your eyes would be bombarded with a whirlwind of colours emitted by jars of any capacity stored in shelves from the floor to the ceiling, by tall and short vials stuffed in racks, by schemes and mental maps pinned to three big corkboards.

Daishou’s skin prickled for the spicy air and his ears hadn’t found a bit of peace since Terushima started to blabber about potions. “Don’t tell me you call this organized mess.”  
Terushima halted mid-sentence, a shocked O shape on his lips. “What?!?” he squeaked and pointed to his boards, “this is more than organized! Planned and efficient!” he concluded with his booming voice.  
Daishou narrowed his eyes, “My study room at home is an organized chaos. I would never subject any students to something like this.”  
Terushima laughed, “Suga told me your nickname is Two faces.”  
“Uhm, I’m sure he didn’t tell you which is the one we kindly gave him.”  
“Oh, yeah, Sugar tells me anything. We are besties,” Terushima smiled and his eyes twinkled with warmth.

Daishou ignored the last bit of information and went to examine Terushima’s clutter. It should indeed work considering that Terushima was one of the best fairy healers, even though Daishou would never say it aloud. On some parchments, he read the topics of the fairy’s most recent research: “how to dwindle your curse,” on one, “how to stabilize metamorphic potions for shapeshifters,” on the other. He would have cackled but, from what he was seeing, Terushima’s reasoning made sense. “Those are ambitious goals,” he said while he kept reading.

“Uhm… actually, you could help.”  
“Well, I usually don’t dwell on such sort of topics, but if you insist-”  
Terushima waved his hands, his wings spread golden sparkles in the process, “Ah, no! It wasn’t what I meant, man!” After a bit he turned bright red, “Oh gods, I mean, if you want to help, yay, it’s so cool, dude!” He gave a timid smile.  
The man was capable of feeling a bit of embarrassment: Daishou wanted to see more of this cuteness. “Terushima, you have just said I could help,” he said flatly.  
“Of course, of course, you can give me some hairs and a couple of scales,” the healer grinned.  


Daishou blinked, but, after the initial surprise, he closed the distance between him and Terushima, “Ouch, you want me only for my body! Such a cruel guy!”  
The fairy this time flushed, “No!! I would never… shit, you are attractive but-”  
“Am I not your type?” Daishou only half-teased.  
Terushima’s eyes widened to the size of boiled eggs and he gaped like a fish out of water. Daishou sniggered. To distract himself from Terushima’s beautiful flushed cheeks, he patted his blazer in search of fallen hairs, “Here,” he provoked, “I hope these could suffice. I don’t fancy to rip off anything from my scalp.”  
Terushima muttered a thank you and immediately retrieved an empty vial to collect the hairs.

“What do you need them for, anyway.”  
“I am trying to stabilize the metamorphosis induced by potions in a person who is already a shapeshifter.”  
“Huh?”  
“Well, let’s say,” Terushima faced Daishou again, “you want to become a cat.”  
“Naaa.”  
“Come on, it’s only a hypothesis.” Daishou slightly nodded and Terushima went on. “As you already know, the moment you drink a cat metamorphic potion your snake shapeshifter DNA would interfere with the potion itself, screwing up its effectiveness and duration.”  
“Sounds awful and terribly complicated to solve. How are you going to fix this, Terushima-san?”  
The healer didn’t seem to be fazed by Daishou’s provocation, “I am finding a way to momentarily turn off the shapeshifter’s DNA.”  
Daishou snorted, “you wish!”  
“I will succeed!” Terushima replied, offended.

Daishou was going to keep the banter alive when a couple of snake’s skins dangling from the ceiling caught his attention. He glared to Terushima, who flew back a bit and said he found the skins in the woods, that no snake was mistreated and so on.  
As soon as Daishou splayed one hand on the nearest desk, ribbons of green light enveloped his body. He crawled a couple of shelves and brought his head in front of Terushima’s nose, which he promptly brushed with the tip of his forked tongue, hissing.  
“Da-Daishou?!”  
Daishou stared at Terushima for what felt a geological time, his slitted maroon eyes hypnotic.  A cascade of viridescent scales fell from the cobra’s body. The snake soon after slithered to a screen in the far corner of the room, its carvings did little to hide his gleaming metamorphosis.  
“Sorry for the mess,” the shapeshifter poked his head out the screen, “I hope you’ll have enough jars to store my precious gift,” he jerked his head towards the skin he left on the floor.  
“This… is more than enough! You shouldn’t have-”  
“Oh?”  
Terushima paused. “Stop chafing me,” he deadpanned.  
“Me?” Daishou took mock offence, “care to lend me some clothes? I just ripped mine into pieces,” he gestured toward the scales on the floor.  
“You-”  
Daishou huffed, “Gods, do you think a decent shapeshifter wouldn’t learn to seal his clothes into his animal skin? Or did you assume I would take off my clothes, piss around them in a circle to turn them to stone and prevent any theft once I transformed as lame werewolves do?”


	6. Sweet tooth

Who met Kyoutani for the first time could have never guessed his sour attitude would melt in front of a spicy pumpkin pie. Wanting to maintain his badass reputation in the eyes of the newcomers, he chose to have his breakfast earlier than usual. The nice thing was that, this way, he wouldn’t meet anyone at all: dryads became lazy during fall, even lazier than in winter. Some of them actively complained about their falling leaves, like Kunimi, some other simply glared at the mirror when they thought no one was seeing them, like Kindaichi. And surprisingly enough, the only one who didn’t complain at all was Hinata. It might have to do with the fact he learnt from Matsukawa sensei how to keep his foliage red but full at the same time.

As long as pumpkins grew sweet and pulpy, Kyoutani didn’t give a damn about the greenery on his branches, which, by the way, he tried to keep as bare as possible. This earned him the nickname “spooky tree.” And in all honesty, it was a pretty cool nickname. He wondered if the swan kid already heard about his reputation. He and his obnoxious friend had long come to apologize to Kyoutani, but it hadn’t been exactly a pleasant conversation. 

Under the scrutiny of Yahaba’s stare, Kyoutani’s cheeks flushed and he couldn’t form a response which was more coherent than a curt nod and an approving grunt (or so he hoped the latter sounded). Presumably, Yahaba was only gauging Kyoutani’s reaction to their offer of a truce, however, having those big pretty eyes focused only on him increased the chances his crush on Yahaba would be found out. It was the most embarrassing thing it had happened to him since the “lake incident.” 

He was a goner. He had thought Yahaba was a strange mixture of handsome and cute the very first time he had laid eyes on him. Kyoutani had no clue how to handle this mess. There was no way that Yahaba could be drawn to him. And on Kyoutani’s book, unrequited romantic feelings sat in the top ten list of pathetic, together with his soon to be broken heart, it seemed.

When a scent he got used to in the last weeks wafted to his nose, Kyoutani paused mid-bite. The sturdy visiting student who smelt pleasantly funny trailed after headmaster Sawamura, his head hung too low for someone who usually stood straight, oozing both reliability and willpower.   
“I was sure to find you here, Kyoutani-kun,” Sawamura half-chuckled.   
Kyoutani swallowed his mouthful and sat up, “Good morning, headmaster,” he slightly bowed in greeting.  
“Kid, so prim and proper at the crack of dawn, should I be worried?” Sawamura cocked his head to the right, as if to inspect the table, “have you left some?” he asked while he held out a hand. An innocent pumpkin muffin soon travelled towards Sawamura’s mouth.

Behind the headmaster’s shoulders, the newcomer scrunched up his nose in distaste and closed his eyes. Kyoutani really couldn’t stand any living being who didn’t like pumpkins, therefore, he was going to stamp on his newborn admiration for the level-headed student, when Sawamura added, “Iwaizumi-kun is not feeling very well.” The headmaster glanced around. Only when no one was in sight he kept going, “I need you to show him some safe corner of the woods.”  
“Why me? And what for?”  
Sawamura sighed, “You like wolves.”  
“What… what does that have to do with anything?”  
Iwaizumi straightened his back, and his eyes did not waver, “I am a half-werewolf.”  


Similar to a curious heron, Kyoutani craned his neck forward, “Thought your kind hardly survived.”  
Iwaizumi scoffed, sadness clouded his face. “One of the rare exceptions.”  
Kyoutani didn’t pry any further, “I see. Who am I hiding you from?”  
The newcomer laughed, but it didn’t sound warm a bit, “Sugawara sensei, Oikawa, Yahaba and Kuroo know. My other schoolmates pretend not to know. Daishou sensei should not know.”  
“I trust your judgement, Kyoutani. Take care of him on my behalf, please,” Sawamura said.  
Trying to cover his blush, the young dryad bowed again, “Thank you, sir.”  
“Oh gods, kid, don’t be so polite, I’m getting used to it!” And Sawamura left as quickly as he came.


	7. A helping paw

“It’s only the beginning of the day.” The fog still lingered around them; damp with dew, the leaves didn’t scrunch so much under their feet; collared doves sang from above.  
Iwaizumi didn’t immediately reply. Seemingly to check his surroundings and be sure no one was following them, he kept looking behind. “Your point is?”  
“The full moon didn’t even peek out its head, but you are already half-dead.”  
“A ‘side effect’ of being a half-blood.”  
“You would say the contrary.” Kyoutani grabbed a dead stick from the ground and hit the path with it from time to time.  
“Yeah,” Iwaizumi fastened his pace and started walking by Kyoutani’s side. “You’re a weird guy. You ask things knowing you are prying but you don’t ask any other question after the first answer you got.”  
The dryad shrugged his shoulders, “I am just curious when I see strange things. Besides, I don’t like long talks. I work with what I got.”  
“What you’ve got about me?” Iwaizumi peeked at him.  
“That being a half-werewolf sucks but you stride confidently nonetheless.”  
Again, Iwaizumi’s answer came after a bit, “thank you… I suppose?” Kyoutani caught him still scratching at the back of his neck, sheepish.  


Since their last conversation, they had walked in relative silence. “Do you get cold easily?” Kyoutani asked.  
Iwaizumi repeatedly kicked forward a small stone, using it as a makeshift ball. “A bit.”  
“We’ll settle near the lake then,” Kyoutani said, deflating. Being still the early hours of the day, they could meet Yahaba and his prick friend on their way back to the dormitory. Kyoutani was conflicted: on a hand, he wanted to see the swan kid again, on the other he didn’t even like the idea of greeting Oikawa. Moreover, Oikawa and Iwaizumi were attached to the hip, and there was no way Oikawa, who was clearly set to make Yahaba hate him, would not sabotage Kyoutani’s new friendship with Iwaizumi once he had witnessed the tender buds of it.

“Yahaba used the indoor pool last night.”  
Kyoutani stopped in his tracks, asking himself if Iwaizumi owned some mind-reading powers. “Why are you telling me?”  
It seemed the walk had invigorated Iwaizumi, since he answered cackling. “I swear you are worse than me at the early stages!”  
It was only because of the consideration for Iwaizumi’s condition that Kyoutani held back a snarl, “you’re making fun of me.”  
“No, of course not!” The guy looked him straight in the eyes, and the hoot of a sleepy owl in the distance added some friendly intimacy to the atmosphere. “I would like to help, if you let me,” Iwaizumi smiled.  
“Why?” The dryad spun on his heels and resumed walking ahead. He quickly added, “and with what, in any case?”  


Iwaizumi didn’t follow him immediately. “First of all, it happened to me as well, with Oikawa. I pined on him for months. Turned out he was going through the same hell,” Iwaizumi had to raise his voice for the rest of the sentence, “and we wasted a lot of time!”  
“Who told you I’m pining?” Kyoutani now yelled, looking back to Iwaizumi. His hands trembled and he had to draw long breaths in and out, again and again.   
Iwaizumi run a bit, came in front of Kyoutani and started walking backwards, facing him, even though he heaved for breath. He spoke slowly. “Second, I thought you hated dancing around things.” Then he fell silent for a while. They looked like a couple of lunatics, with the guy still trudging backwards and the dryad sullenly lumbering forward.  


“I thought you weren’t a cruel person,” Kyoutani grumbled.  
“What’s that now?”  
The dryad halted again, and mustered all of his pride. He puffed his chest. “I’m not you! This case is clearly unrequited, there’s no way a beautiful guy like Yahaba could like me.” He furrowed his brows, a couple of bare branches slowly sprouted from his hairline and crept backwards, as if creating a protective helmet over his head.   
“Listen, I would never lead you on. I have never played matchmaker, but for Yahaba I’ll make an exception.”  
Kyoutani snorted, “So generous of you, Iwaizumi-san.&rdquo  
Iwaizumi looked around, “This will take a bit, Kyoutani.” He stilled and bent over. “We need to sit down.”  
“Alright, we can settle where you’ll spend the night,” the dryad pointed to a clearing mostly hidden by a circle of trees, “it’s over there.”  
“Sounds good.”

Kyoutani made Iwaizumi sit down at the bottom of a tree, where the sun filtered warm but not obnoxious. He went to collect the sticks and leaves he would need to build a nice shed for the night. After all, he needed to calm down. During the last days, sometimes he felt like someone’s eyes were studying him, and in more than one occasion, he caught Yahaba or Oikawa looking his way then hastily avoid his gaze. It made sense then what Iwaizumi said, didn’t it? Spying the person you like was a common thing. He hadn’t dared to think that far, back then, but Iwaizumi’s words shed a new light on Yahaba’s strange behaviour. 

When Kyoutani came back to the clearing, he found Iwaizumi sleeping under a blanket of leaves. The guy really felt the cold. Kyoutani decided to take a nap as well and sat down near Iwaizumi.  
After what should have been hours, considering the sky wore the colours of the late afternoon, Kyoutani woke up. He listened to the sounds playing around them and the pain of his stiff back subsided thanks to the crickets songs. “Why didn’t you bring a quilt or something?” Kyoutani muttered, his voice still laced with sleep, “And a tent, maybe?”  
Iwaizumi stirred, a fluffy ear flicked to the side above his head, “need to smell the woods,” he inhaled, “to feel the grass…”  
That was why Iwaizumi emitted a strange but pleasant odour of greenery, the dryad thought. “How do you keep warm, then?” Kyoutani eyed the guy, wondering when his transformation happened and if it was complete.   
Still with his eyes closed and a lopsided little grin on his face, Iwaizumi answered, “’m not cold when the moon is out,” he knitted his brows and finally opened his eyes. In the middle of the forest, they seemed greener than before. “The grass, it keeps me rooted,” he curled his hands in the fluffy ground, “I know I’m safe in the woods and I don’t go… wild,” he ended, with an embarrassed expression.  
“Interesting,” Kyoutani added some leaves to Iwaizumi’s makeshift blanket.

The guy leaned his head back to the trunk and shut his eyes once again. “After Yahaba had come to apologize to you, he said you were not a bad guy,” he sniggered.  
“Uh…”  
“And he made a point to demonstrate that to Oikawa. He started to observe you. At first, he praised ‘the gentle way you handled the plants with.’ I smelled bullshit from a mile away.”  
Kyoutani gaped. It couldn’t be true. It was too easy, too soon, too good to be real. It was unbelievable he had somehow to thank Oikawa.  
Unaware of Kyoutani’s turmoil, Iwaizumi kept talking, “but I didn’t say a word to Yahaba. Then, he told us you helped Terushima sensei with repleting his medical herbs, as if it was a risky task. I mean, I know some plants are poisonous but…” Iwaizumi chuckled, “anyway, Oikawa let Yahaba off of his hook the day we saw you help Tsukishima heal his wing.”  
Kyoutani couldn’t speak and only sputtered, “That’s…”  
“White fairies cannot be touched by people having evil intent. That’s a fact.”  
“White fairy? Tsukishima has not become a black fairy just because he hates creepy creatures,” the dryad snorted.   
“Whoa, there, shouldn’t you be grateful to him?”  
“Yeah, I suppose.”  
“Well, Tsukishima’s helping us a lot. Without him, we would have never seriously thought Tanaka and Noya are still alive…”  
“I know.” Kyoutani sighed, “and that’s it?”  
Iwaizumi peered at the dryad, “That’s it what?”  
“Didn’t, uhm, Yahaba…”  
“Oh… Oh, no!” Iwaizumi frantically shook his head and his tail came to curl over his chest. “No, no, no, I have done enough. You talk to him from now on.”  
Kyoutani glared at him, “Thought you wanted to help.”  
“Thought you were desperate to see him,” Iwaizumi smirked.

A grey, thin cloud surrounded Iwaizumi, spurred from what Kyoutani felt it was ancient magic. A powerful curse battled with a soul just in front of Kyoutani, threatening to push it over the brink of sanity. But they already knew who would have won, who had won each and every full moon in the years. Iwaizumi’s eyes were the first thing which emerged from that dark fog. His smile didn’t subside and it wasn’t creepy at all now that his lips were replaced by a muzzle and his teeth were sharp as steel. Kyoutani couldn’t suppress the urge to pet the wolf’s soft fur. As Kyoutani’s fingers carded through anthracite hair, Iwaizumi looked at him with puppy eyes and put his muzzle on the dryad’s lap. Suddenly, Kyoutani felt that his hand was jostled around, following the movements of Iwaizumi’s head, who opened and closed his jaw. “Oikawa insisted that this night he will come here once Yahaba will be asleep down at the lake,” Iwaizumi the wolf said.  
For how much Kyoutani was startled by the fact that Iwaizumi was still able to speak, he managed to say something. “I’ll take my leave then,” he made to sit up but a gentle paw blocked him.  
“Wouldn’t you be so kind as to watch over Yahaba tonight in our stead?”


	8. Floating

By the time Kyoutani arrived at the lake he was sick of contemplating the moon resting low on the treeline. He really couldn’t fathom how someone could bear to live a life ruled by the rising and falling of a satellite in their sky. As a dryad, he found extremely annoying to depend on the changing seasons, but, at least, it wasn’t a daily or monthly matter. How could Iwaizumi not hate that full bright circle which reigned over him every month? How could Yahaba not dread the night coming at the end of each day?  Iwaizumi seemed somewhat at peace, he even smiled and talked about spending the night in the woods as something he enjoyed if Oikawa was by his side.

The feet of said wizard poked out a tiny tent set near the lake. Writings covered a good part of the tent’s roof, clearly made years ago by still inexperienced hands: “swans are cool”, “Tooru and Yahaba besties”, some of them read. As Kyoutani got much closer, he spotted a bunch of figurines which stood out between the mottos. Two of them caught his attention: a full moon so detailed that Kyoutani asked himself if that was a realistic mapping of the satellite, and a ballerina. She wore a feathery costume, her small face in a melancholic pose. He traced the contours of her fluffy skirt and winged headpiece.

At the sound of paper rustling, he paused. Given the position of his feet, Oikawa must have rolled in his sleep and dragged with him some notes. But the tent was so small that a good amount of the material “nerd Oikawa” got with him didn’t fit inside the little space and laid abandoned outside. Iwaizumi was right, Kyoutani had the habit of prying into others’ lives, though he knew when to stop. On the other hand, he also knew when a golden chance to investigate, unnoticed, was offered to him by luck. He squatted to examine those notebooks and tomes. They all talked about curses and how to dwindle their effects, some notes written by Terushima sensei. There was what seemed a dairy at the end of the messy pile of books, a band twisted around it to keep it closed. Kyoutani needed to know if the thing was owned by Yahaba or by his prick friend. In order to accomplish the simple task, it would have been enough to read just the first page, Kyoutani deluded himself while he violated the privacy of those pages.

There was no name written in the notebook, and, obviously, he had no other way to discover who the owner of the dairy was, given he had known Yahaba and Oikawa only since a few weeks. But as he was closing the notebook, the neat handwriting enticed him to read with purpose instead of skimming in search of the owner’s name. A conscious mistake he maybe would regret.

The main topic of the very first page shocked him: “how to lift a shapeshifting curse.” Who could be so fool to think that was an achievable goal? Who was deluding himself, Oikawa or Yahaba? He witnessed too many people lose their mind trying to accomplish the impossible: strive to conquer eternal youth, to win the heart of the one they loved, to own endless gold.

“Or are you both fools?” Kyoutani spat, speaking louder than he wanted.  
Probably started by the dryad’s voice, Oikawa hit his head against the horizontal pole of the tent. As the crybaby he was, he whined a couple of seconds too much before emerging from the flap. Kyoutani couldn’t care less to hide the evidence of his spying.  
Oikawa yelped at the sight of the dryad and was opening his mouth to say something when he noticed what Kyoutani was holding in his hands. His face paled, his eyes, feverish, searched Kyoutani’s ones. He didn’t even stand up from his ridiculous on all fours pose, only the upper part of his body outside the tent.

However, after a couple of minutes, Oikawa managed to fully exit the tent and stood at his usual height. Then he regained his ability to speak, a suspicious smile quirked his lips. “What have we here, Ken-kun? I would have never expected you were a peeper!”  
Kyoutani deadpanned “Are you writing erotica in there?”  
Oikawa squeaked. “You have no shame!”  
“I’m not the one who devours his boyfriend’s lips out in the courtyard when he thinks no one is around.”  
The guy went beet red in the blink of an eye. “Alright,” he lunged forward to snatch the notebook from Kyoutani’s grasp. He fiddled with the corner of his notebook, “let’s not get swayed from the main topic. I know that you are quite a curious guy, but don’t you think this is too much?” he grinned creepily, “Yahaba deserves better than a spy.”  
“You are one to speak, Oikawa-san,” Kyoutani replied, “as if you had never snooped into Yahaba’s stuff,” he finished with a grin.

 “We are besties!!” Oikawa said, offended, as if the fact he stated made his nosy attitude any better.  
“Oh, I see. Well, we are future lovers,” Kyoutani heard himself say. He must have mustered up the courage to say such a forward thing after the pep talk Iwaizumi gave him.  
Oikawa didn’t look pleased “You wish!”  
But at that point Kyoutani couldn’t waver, “We’ll see,” he said slyly, triumph written on his face at the look of annoyance Oikawa wore in his knitted eyebrows and narrowed eyes.  
“I regret giving my approval. I don’t like you one bit,” the wizard rebutted, sullen.  
Kyoutani had to admit that the guy became cuter when he was pouting, however, he would let Iwaizumi enjoy all of Oikawa’s moods and expressions.

“Iwaizumi’s waiting for you,” Kyoutani tried the lover’s card.  
Oikawa beamed, but after a second he menaced the dryad, “Hurt Shigeru, and you’ll have nowhere to hide.”  
Kyoutani still preferred the more relaxed approach Iwaizumi used with him, “Yeah,” he answered, to cut short the annoying conversation. Oikawa was collecting his stuff when Kyoutani halted on his path towards the lake, “Is it yours?”  
>“What?”  
“Is it you who is searching for a way to lift their curse?”  
Oikawa sighed, “I’m not stupid, I know reversing curses is fairy tales’ matter. I am only…” he cast down his gaze “… trying to understand if the tales stemmed from something real. You know, like Troy’s war that was real but only started for different reasons than the ones we read in the Iliad. But, I mean, the war was real!” Oikawa looked at him so full of hope that a bit of it must have rubbed on Kyoutani as well.  
The dryad hummed, “Ah, who knows?”  
“I tell you who shouldn’t know about this,” the wizard showed his diary, “Iwaizumi and Yahaba.” The determination in those words gained Kyoutani’s immediate respect, “Got it,” he replied with finality.

Oikawa held his chin higher, tilting his head to one side he stared at Kyoutani. “Great.” He turned again and sauntered into the woods.  
Kyoutani sat down near the fire, which was still lively thanks more to a charm than to practical skills. “What a city wizard,” he snorted. Hugging his knees, he inspected the lake. Amongst the few waterbirds, a lonely swan floated with his head tucked under one of his wings. The white plumage stood out in the moonlit night, and Kyoutani wanted to brush his fingers through those feathers, to rub the pain away from that neck which would be sore after hours of staying bent backwards.

All of a sudden, the fireplace crackled loudly in the silence and burned brighter, catching both Kyoutani’s and the waterbirds’ attention. If Oikawa was playing cupid at a distance fiddling with the magical fire he himself created,  Kyoutani had nothing to complain about it. As a result of Oikawa’s little stunt, Yahaba shook his neck out of his wing and elongated it upright, regaining the dignified pose swan were famous for. Kyoutani didn’t know if it was love who spoke in his own head, but Yahaba seemed the most graceful creature he had ever seen. The embarrassed way the swan curled his neck to one side under his stare pierced Kyoutani’s soul, the words beautiful and cute echoed in his mind.

Much to Kyoutani’s surprise, Yahaba drifted to the shore of the lake. When he finally touched the ground, he moved, unlike any other waterbird, maybe because he knew what humans thought about clumsy birds, or perhaps since his natural grace stayed untouched even in his swan shape. He strolled to Kyoutani, his webbed feet light and cautious, till he found a suitable spot to settle on. He tilted his head to the side, assessing the dryad. In the chill of the night, a series of little clouds puffed out of Kyoutani’s slightly parted mouth, making evident how faster he needed to breath to catch up with his blistering heartbeat. Probably out of pity, Yahaba stopped looking at him and gave his full attention to the lake, his gaze fixed in the distance.

A stupid panic gnawed at Kyoutani’s throat. Least he wanted that the swan thought he was a real idiot, he had to say something. In the meantime, Yahaba fluffed up his feathers in order to keep warm, which spurred the dryad to instinctively shelter the swan from the cold. From his arms and calves, he sprouted a couple of branches that he directed to the ground, behind Yahaba. Once the branches sunk into the soil to root, they emerged from it and multiplied forming a dense web. It wasn’t an easy fit for a dryad to produce a good amount of leaves in the middle of autumn, but Kyoutani concentrated so deeply on his task so that the only trace of the current season was the golden hues of the foliage, which was rich, full as if in spring.

When Kyoutani was done, he peeked under the makeshift shed and found Yahaba with his neck craned back to stare at the protecting shell. “It’s beautiful… thank you,” Yahaba said looking at him again.  
Kyoutani comically widened his eyes, “You can speak!”  
“Is it a bad thing?” Yahaba seemed amused.  
The dryad wasn’t still used to the swan’s teasing behaviour, even if he should have seen that coming, given how mischievious Yahaba could be when he wanted.  
“You didn’t utter a word, back then.”  
Something akin to a pout set on the swan muzzle, his cheeks puffed out and head cocked upwards to a side. “When I shapeshift I cannot speak if I am very tired.”  
“I see.”  
“Or very angry,” Yahaba opened his beak a bit and a dimple formed on his cheek. That was his swan smile, an adorable one, on Kyoutani’s opinion.  
“If you keep your funny position there, your neck is going to hurt,” the swan kept talking, “can’t you make this wide enough for the both of us?” Even though swans had very small eyes, Yahaba’s ones were larger than average and more expressive, a striking resemblance of his human nature. Kyoutani could swear he saw a sly glimpse in them.  
“Can do that.” The branches made sounds of wooden being stretched and expanded to envelop the dryad. However, no leaves popped up on Kyoutani’s side of the shelter, the branches stayed bare but grew thicker and numerous, an image of Kyoutani’s favourite dryad shape.  
“You don’t like leaves?”  
“They are annoying. When they are on, they rustle and ask for more water that I would care to drink. When they start to fall, they tickle.”  
“Then why have you just-”  
“To keep you warm.”  
Yahaba bent his neck in that shy way once more, bringing it closer to Kyoutani ’s lap. But the swan eyes were fixed on him, and Kyoutani really hoped that was a sort of request to be petted on the head or something like that, because he really couldn’t resist anymore, he had to stroke those feathers. The moment he brushed his fingers on the back of Yahaba’s head, the swan emitted a small trumpety noise and leant into the touch, keen to show his approval.

Caressing Yahaba’s feathers was like carding fingers through clouds covering a mountain peak: under the layer of unbearable softness, one could feel the sturdy surface of the swan’s head. Wondering if he could venture so far, Kyoutani reached for Yahaba’s upper back. This time his hand disappeared into a mass of fluffy white and Yahaba produced again that sound yet it was longer and made the swan close his eyes.  
“Is this ok?” Kyoutani asked.  
“Shouldn’t, uhm,” Yahaba huffed, “have you asked sooner?”  
This time Kyoutani reflected on his reply, “You like it.”  
Yahaba rested his head on Kyoutani’s lap and looked up at him, “I like it.” When the dryad started to smile, Yahaba closed his eyes, “don’t get cocky.”  
Kyoutani sensed the sleep creeping up on him with the way Yahaba relaxed against him, the swan’s breathing regular and his pleased sounds getting lower with each passing second. “Wouldn’t dare,” Kyoutani replied, and leant his head backwards, against his own branches.


	9. Books and windowsills

In the beginning, the student tried to discretely follow in the library a random teacher, asking questions about lessons or difficult homework. It all started when Hinata sought tutoring from Suga. Daichi thought that the visiting teacher’s aura had to do with it and didn’t pay much attention to it, even though Hinata wasn’t exactly the kind of student to ask teachers for help (or any peer, till the deadlines loomed over him). But when Tsukishima trailed after Daishou sensei asking for things Daichi knew Tsukishima already studied and understood thoroughly, Daichi connected the dots. Resident and visiting students allied to grasp every bit of information about Tanaka and Noya’s disappearance that could slip from the mouths of the teachers, who spent pretty much any off lessons time in the library researching about similar cases of kidnapping. There was no other word, indeed, to define what happened: there was no chance that the two half-fairies would have purposely still been on radio silence, making worry their family and close friends.

The students ended up to be so distressed and on edge that, at last, the teachers decided to allow something that rarely happened: they would let some students join their research group. Daichi didn’t like the idea, it reminded him of dark times, when Good and Evil’s battle called even for teens, and their professors started treating them almost like adults fully capable of using magic to fight. That daring strategy helped seal Evil away; however, Daichi still remembered the young faces of the classmates who didn’t make it. He couldn’t have stood the thought of losing other young lives like that. Though, Suga was right: the students, if not guided by teachers, would have gone out there and done their researches, exposing themselves to more significant risks.

And there they were, all huddled together in the comfiest study room, papers and books sprawled everywhere in Terushima and Daishou’s spot, organised mess scattered over Hanamaki and Oikawa’s corner, piles of ordered material on Kuroo, Akaashi, Tsukishima and Suga’s table. The unique study group made use even of windowsills, niches between bookshelves and the floor.

At the sight of Hinata’s head resting into Kageyama’s lap and Atsumu sitting beside the two of them into the windowsill, hand carding through Kageyama’s hair, well, Daichi was going to send those kids to their rooms, telling them off for their inappropriate behaviour. But before he could open his mouth to speak, Suga gasped, “Oh gods, Daichi, look at those dark circles under Hinata’s eyes,” the wizard approached the three students, “and why is he so pale?”  
Daichi then understood and felt a bit guilty for thinking ill of the kids. Kageyama was indeed transfusing energy to Hinata and Atsumu, in turn, to Kageyama. They were very far from doing coupley stuff in the library as Daichi thought (well, technically the kids were in a three-person relationship, however teens called that, but Daichi didn’t want to dwell on such topics, he simply accepted any form of respectful affection his students decided to share between them).

The moment Kageyama noticed Daichi and Suga’s presence, he quickly apologised for the unusual “setting” and added, “he is overworking himself,” he frowned and blushed, resuming to caress Hinata’s head, “he’s not sleeping well either.”  
“Oh yeah,” Atsumu chuckled softly, “he’s collecting ‘fairies’ stuff’ from all around the woods anytime he’s not here or in class.”  
Daichi worried what that “stuff” could be, “What for?” he asked.  
“I bet he’s trying to create some magical circle,” said Suga, squatting near Hinata, “you know, to summon Tanaka and Noya back.” He held the little dryad’s hand which hung abandoned out of the windowsill, almost brushing the library’s floor. A delicate orange light started to flow from Suga’s palm and enveloped Hinata’s torso, intertwining with Kageyama’s blue glow, which was particularly intense around Hinata’s heart and head. For how much extroverted and energetic he was, Suga didn’t usually dare to overstep his boundaries, hence, Daichi thought, he maintained his energy respectfully lower over Kageyama’s blue light.

Atsumu smiled, “thank you, Suga sensei.”  
“Hey now, Miya-kun, who told you could call Sugawara-san this way?”  
But Suga waved his other hand dismissively, “Oh, Daichi, obviously I did.” Then he turned to face Daichi properly and mouthed a “don’t be so territorial” meant only for them.  
After some seconds of stunned silence, Daichi cleared his throat, “I don’t want to know how you do know that he isn’t sleeping well at night,” he scowled.  
Kageyama replied, confused, “We’re roommates…”  
“I wasn’t talking to you, Kageyama,” Daichi said, looking pointedly at Atsumu, who, being a senpai, wasn’t supposed to wander around at night and sleep in his kouhais’ room, especially because they were all going out together. Daichi already had a hard time convincing himself that it was fine to let still sleep in the same room Kageyama and Hinata. He once more remembered how, to talk him out of separating the young couple who transitioned from friends to lovers only some months ago, Hanamaki had to ridicule him to no end for being an old man. But the final blow was given by the unsuspecting honour student Kunimi, “Sensei, it’s surely not your fault, but I am afraid you are a bit late with your concern about their… virtue.” Daichi was still recovering from the revelation of something he didn’t want to know anything about.

Kageyama mumbled something Daichi was lucky enough to hear, “I can’t help him. We both have nightmares. My fairy dust got corrupted by them. I am useless.”  
Atsumu properly explained, “my fairy dust is still good, sensei, since I am not experiencing night terror,” and the fondness in his smile when he looked at Kageyama made Daichi’s heart soften. “You’re never useless,” Atsumu whispered to his boyfriend.

“When did it start?” Suga asked.  
Kageyama looked dejected, “he played it off, at the beginning. I suspect it started when the notice of the Noya and Tanaka’s missing reached us,” he fiddled with the hem of his skirt, “I tended to him every night and things were going better when, suddenly, one night I couldn’t help him anymore…”  
“You should have said something sooner, Kageyama,” Daichi lightly chastised the young fairy.  
At that, Atsumu shook a bit his head, “you need to focus on finding them, Sawamura sensei. Kageyama asked me for help. It’s a minor issue. We’ll be fine.”  
Suga wore the most severe expression Daichi had till now seen on him, “if it affects you too, Atsumu-kun, call us immediately,” he stood up, “and rest properly.”  
Atsumu nodded, and with that, they left the kids.

Once they were out of earshot, Daichi could share his thoughts with Suga. “It scares me that these nightmares are spreading disease wise.”  
“Actually, for a fairy, nightmares are a disease.”  
Daichi huffed a laugh. “I know, but usually they recover by themselves, as you do with colds: lots of rest, keep warm, and wait.”  
“Sadly our goofballs didn’t talk about any of this to us,” Suga picked up his book and opened his notepad, starting to jot out notes. “I do not know if something like that occurred before or even caused…” he trailed off, and that hesitation, that reluctance to say the rest out loud killed Daichi, because he saw the connection Suga had just made: those were maybe the symptoms of what swallowed Tanaka and Noya into nothingness. With a sigh the wizard admitted, “but they were strangely tired the weeks before their disappearance.”  
Daichi paled at the thought, but he wanted to be strong for Suga, “whatever it happened, they are still alive. Their mothers still feel their bond with them.”  
“Ah…” the wizard replied, and soon tried to steady his voice, “I know.”  
From the top of the table, lilac balloon flowers mixed with beautyberry branches and pansies started to grow and bloom, a couple of pansies purposely went through Suga’s book. “Da… Daichi…” The wizard looked up at him and blinked several times in surprise, perhaps to hide a couple of traitorous tears as well.

—

Had someone said to Terushima “One day you will wear a living scarf,” he wouldn’t have doubted it could happen in a world full of magic like their was. However, he imagined talking feather boas, nicely chatty, affectionate neck warmers, with tiny soft hands ready to massage your sore spots, silky scarves which would change colours and textures based on your mood or requests.

On the contrary, the scarf he was wearing at the moment had his own free will, no chances it would listen to him, and not because it was born from a rebellious charm, and, moreover, it, well, he was a nice companionable “study mate.” Daishou, as a cobra, sat wrapped around Terushima’s neck, wore cute tiny glasses on the bridge of his nose and provided keen comments about what Terushima was reading or the notes he was taking. The smoothness of Daishou’s new skin provided a pleasurable massage when he moved around or descended at table level to read the smaller footnotes. When his head rested on an open page, Terushima got on the verge of melting in front of that cute sight.   
A forked tongue lapped the book, “It’s so old that I will have rhinitis later,” Daishou hissed.  
Terushima petted him, “Then go back to human,” he said, even though he would miss how close they could stay when Daishou kept his snake form.  
Tilting his head and retracting his tongue, Daishou replied, “Duh, I’m allergic to dust, dummy, that’s the only way I can avoid rhinitis.”  
“But you’ve just said-”  
“It doesn’t work if I have to stay stuck to this kind of moulded book for hours.”  
A thin layer of translucent, oily paper slithered under Daishou’s head, creating a transparent barrier between him and the book. “Better now?”  
Daishou slowly stood up with the upper half of his body and stilled in front of Terushima’s eyes, who by then knew no ill intent laid behind that stance (Daishou’s eyesight was that bad, yep). “Couldn’t you do that before?”  
“Oh gods, how was I supposed to know you had this issue?”  
“Because I keep sneezing for at least 30 minutes when I transform back every day!”  
“I’m not a guess monster!”  
“That’s pretty much evident.” Daishou fell back on the book with a heavy thud.  
“But you keep sticking around,” terushima’s eyes twinkled.   
“To my surprise, you’re the most genial wizard I have ever met,” the snake smiled in his peculiar way.  
After some seconds of utter disbelief, the fairy said, “I feel like a genius freak now.”  
“Well, considering you are one, I don’t see any dissociation process ongoing.”  
“Will you admit it, one day?”  
“What?”  
“You know what.”  
Daishou repeatedly moved his head from one side to another, as if he were saying no. “I hate stating the obvious, Yuuji.”  
“I like teasing you, Guru-chan,” Terushima brushed his knuckles over Daishou’s body.  
“You like me,” a fake offended sound left the fairy’s mouth, but the snake silenced any rebut, “I hope, as much as I do like you.”


	10. Exceptions

Breakfast was the best meal, in Hinata’s opinion. Considering he was a still growing dryad, he could eat all the sweet, caloric, delicious stuff he wanted without anyone scolding him. Besides, luckily enough, he burned the food like a furnace and didn’t have to worry about body fat. He would hate to be called chubby shorty instead of dumb shorty, and to have less toned muscles than Kageyama. Speaking of the latter, he kept stuffing his mouth with the strange “bread” Oikawa senpai brought with him. How was it called again? Milk cake? Hinata supposed Kageyama fixation on milk would see no end and he was delighted that Iwaizumi senpai took pity of Kageyama and multiplied the loaves Oikawa didn’t want to share for the life of him.

  
A couple of crumbs fell from the drayd’s mouth as he spoke, “’Yama, chipmunk,” he chuckled. Some fists on the back later (courtesy of Atsumu), he could speak again, now safe from chocking, “how could you like those better?”  
Kageyama didn’t stop munching on the milk cakes, “I am sick of pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, soup, pies, juice, even the salad!” he threw his unoccupied arm in the air.  
“But pumpkins are the best!” replied Hinata, offended.  
“Milk is the best.”  
“Naaa, goody-two-shoes, fatty tuna is the best,” Atsumu interjected, ruffling Kageyama’s hair, “you need fish for your brain and muscles!” he smacked his boyfriend’s bicep and kissed it, “but don’t grow too much those guns in hope you can surpass mine,” he finished wiggling his brows.  
Hinata snickered, “Reply to that now.”  
Flustered, Kageyama could only say, “shut up…”  
“Milk is for mama boys,” the dryad singsonged yet fondly. He adored Kageyama’s mom and found extremely cute how is boyfriend respected and loved her.  
A lopsided smile crept on Kageyama’s lips, “Yeah, I’m a mama boy,” and he trapped Hinata in a tickle fight.  
“Nuuuuu!!” Hinata shrieked.

  
On the other side of the table, Osamu sighed, “could we please agree that any of us has the damn right to satisfy his cravings and save our energies for later?”  
“There’s no way you can convince me to share my tuna with you, brother.”  
“Meee! I- I want your-” in the middle of their battle, Hinata heaved for breath and cried, “t-t-tuuunnnnaaaa!”  
Osamu slapped a hand to his face, “Oh gods, you corrupted even him.”  
“Ewww, gross!” Tsukishima deadpanned as he was approaching the table.  
“Tsukki!!! Save me!” Hinata pleaded between laughs.  
The taller fairy bent a bit and pinched Kageyama on the back, who howled in pain and let go of Hinata.  
“You own me,” Tsukishima smirked, and was greeted by the warmest of thank-yous Hinata could mutter.

—

Tsukki’s wings sparkled more than ever, Kuroo noted. He was wearing an unusual short dress that morning, and to top it off, a fancy one, rich in golden and red embroidery. But Kuroo wouldn’t want to delude himself thinking that the fairy dressed up first thing in the morning just because of what happened the previous evening. However, it couldn’t be a coincidence either. Let it to Tsukishima to do things in reverse: shouldn’t you try to seduce your crush before you get together with him and not afterwards? Well, maybe after as well, not that Tsukki needed to work so hard to enchant him.

  
A quirked brow from the fairy and Kuroo knew immediately he had appraised him for too long, “You’re beautiful today,” he tried the charming way.  
Tsukishima asked, with a serious face, “Today?”  
In response, Kuroo flailed his arms, “Always, I meant today as always.” A burst of laughter coming from Tsukishima reassured him immediately, and he couldn’t take offence when the fairy said, “idiot…” As he felt Tsukishima’s fingers brushing on his hand under the table, Kuroo felt emboldened and whispered into the fairy’s ear, “Hopefully your idiot?”  
“Someone in this world had to take this burden,” Tsukishima replied, squeezing Kuroo’s hand.


	11. Cosy and warm

The cushion behind his back provided him comfort, while one of his feet took pleasure in wiggling its toes into the grass under the warmth of a blanket. Iwaizumi’s muzzle occupied his lap, thus, for most people, a quilt wouldn’t have been necessary, but Oikawa felt cold in every possible situation. Iwaizumi sometimes mocked him saying that maybe it was because he had sold his soul to the Evil and nothing could melt his icy heart anymore.

“You were so cruel to him,” Iwaizumi glanced at him, “I know Kyoutani is not the most sociable person-”  
“I told you, it was because of his creepy face.”  
“Come on, he has a stern expression, alright, but so do I.”  
“Iwa-chan! Your scowl is of the shy type!” Oikawa explained.  
On response to Oikawa statement, Iwaizumi blushed, “That makes no sense.”   
“But it does, Iwa-chan,” the wizard rebutted in a condescending tone, “it’s clear you help old ladies cross the street and your kouhais to beat their bullies to a pulp.”  
“Beat to a pulp?” Iwaizumi asked, horrified, “How is this shy?”  
“Any means are legitimate for a good cause. Besides, the shy comes from the ‘help old ladies thing’ and the furious blush that covers your face any time you receive a compliment.”  
A warm tongue lapped Oikawa’s hand, the wolf chuckled, “You’re so slow to drop your grudges,” he half-closed his eyes, an expression between resignation and fondness.  
“Uhm, you’re changing the topic, see? Shy.”  
“I’ll just drop it.”  
“Oh, no, let’s go back to talking about him. He could be more efficient. We need brute force to protect our Shigeru. He can only use tentacles and stuff, whereas, choose your biceps or your fangs, and the job is done in half a second.”  
“… Are you suggesting I start dating Yahaba to protect him better?”  
Oikawa gasped, “Cheater! With my best friend!” The wolf stood on his front legs, propping his paws on Oikawa’s lap. His big eyes stared at him, “First of all, I thought I was your best friend,” he smiled, “Second, I know you’re only complaining to win my affection,” and Oikawa smirked back, “Should I still fight for your love?”  
A grey mist surrounded Iwaizumi, and a pair of warm lips kissed Oikawa, who promptly hugged Iwaizumi’s naked back and covered him with the blanket from the chill of the dawn. They shared lazy kisses for a while and then cuddled under their shed.  
Oikawa looked up at its ceiling, an intricate web of vines, which was luscious and produced a sweet scent, calming for both Iwaizumi and him. “He built one of this for Yahaba as well.”  
“I know,” said Iwaizumi, not moving from his spot under Oikawa’s chin.  
“Are we sure he is a good guy, aren’t we?”  
“Yeah, we are.”


	12. Murky mysteries

Never once had Kyoutani left him alone in the woods since some weeks ago Atsumu disappeared. He waited there, lonely on the lake-bank, and mostly stared at Yahaba. It would have been creepy as hell if Yahaba didn’t know why Kyoutani couldn’t stand the thought of losing sight of him. Atsumu started disappearing right in front of them, bit by bit, his figure faded into nothingness. Since that day, everyone was on edge. Because, assuming your friends have been kidnapped was one thing, as they thought before about Noya and Tanaka’s missing, and witnessing a powerful, unstoppable charm taking place right in front of you was another. They were helpless, useless. The only “good” thing that came out from this tragedy was that they had some more clue about how the disappearing worked.

It was something related to the fairy world, that much was obvious, and maybe to how self-esteem worked for those creatures. Lately, Atsumu was indeed fighting with his brother and Hinata. He was jealous of the time they spent together. However, even though such sort of feeling was common, especially in complicated relationship like the one which bonded Atsumu, Kageyama and Hinata, it was really strange that Atsumu, all of a sudden, couldn’t trust Hinata nor his brother, considering both of them were the most incapable persons when it came to hiding anything, let alone something murky as cheating.

Luckily, among the visiting students there were two top-notch wizards studying at the Investigative department, Bokuto Koutaro, and owl shapeshifter with acute empathy (when he decided to keep focused on something), and Akaashi Keiji, smart wizard expert in revealing charms. Not that dryads and fairies couldn’t solve mysteries, but that spell was something not even Terushima-san or Sawamura sensei had ever witnessed. Something which played with the emotions of the creature till the point they somewhat auto-destroyed.

Since that terrible day, Bokuto almost never ceased to search the woods flying. He brought back any possible clue, and they all seemed promising, but each time Akaashi, examined them, it all came down to traces of the distress Atsumu experienced so hard that it left a sign in the fairy dust he left behind him. Yahaba had to give to them: they didn’t feel discouraged easily. Just the previous morning, Bokuto pointed out that he found the most promising traces near the lake.

And if Kyoutani reacted staring much more intently at him, Yahaba kept searching around Atsumu’s favourite spots in the lake. Tired of floating aimlessly and craving for Kyoutani’s presence by his side, Yahaba abandoned his search for that day. When he was approaching the bank, a golden glimpse under the shallow water caught his attention. He dived his head and saw a small mirror, which he retrieved and rushed to bring to Kyoutani.

Alarmed by Yahaba’s strange behaviour, Kyoutani run to him and, at the sight of the foreign object he snatched it to put it face down on the ground immediately.  
“You!” he raised his voice, “are you a fool? What if it’s an enchanted item?”  
Yahaba was going to yell at him, to tell him not to dare to address him like that, but Kyoutani sagged on his knees and crushed him in a hug. “Do not do something like that again,” Kyoutani sobbed in front of him for the first time since he and Yahaba met.  
“I… I won’t.”  
Kyoutani grew vines from one of his ankles and engulfed the mirror with it, cutting the tentacles off of his body after that they snuggled tight around the object.  
“We should bring it to the teachers and the investigative team,” Yahaba said, speaking in a soothing way into Kyoutani’s ear.


End file.
